topic Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred? in Credit Cards

AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:00:32 GMT

Topic says it all, i have the option to request an upgrade... Currently the BCE has no Annual Fee and the BCP will have a 95$ annual fee. However the benefits may potentially out weigh that fee...

What is the general opinion?

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

OmarR — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:14:29 GMT

Someone can jump in and correct me if my math is wrong, but if you spend at least ~$60 per week ($240/month) on groceries, than the BCP is the better card.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

FinStar — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:25:54 GMT

Is there a SUB as part of the offer to upgrade?

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:32:52 GMT

@OmarR wrote:
Someone can jump in and correct me if my math is wrong, but if you spend at least ~$60 per week ($240/month) on groceries, than the BCP is the better card.

Math is correct. If you look purely at grocery spend, the cutover is where the extra 3% exceeds $95, so 95/.03, is about $3.166.67 a year, which is about $60.90 a week,

Cavaets in both directions!

1) This assumes spend at a grocery store which codes that way for Amex. Otherwise, both cards earn 1% and the AF is a waste.

2) This spend goes on the Amex card only. So if you have Discover IT and Freedom for example, some quarters you could get 5% supermarkets anyway, so the math changes, pushing the threshold up. (For example, if you could always use a 5% card at a supermarket, e.g. Chase Amazon at Whole Foods, the BCP doesn't make sense, as the extra 1% on $6,000 doesn't outweight the $95 AF)

On the pro-BCP side: if you have streaming services, any money you put there lowers the breakeven. Also true for gas, but even the 3% on BCP is low for gas if it is a significant spend.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:49:11 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@OmarR wrote:
Someone can jump in and correct me if my math is wrong, but if you spend at least ~$60 per week ($240/month) on groceries, than the BCP is the better card.
Math is correct. If you look purely at grocery spend, the cutover is where the extra 3% exceeds $95, so 95/.03, is about $3.166.67 a year, which is about $60.90 a week,

Cavaets in both directions!
1) This assumes spend at a grocery store which codes that way for Amex. Otherwise, both cards earn 1% and the AF is a waste.
2) This spend goes on the Amex card only. So if you have Discover IT and Freedom for example, some quarters you could get 5% supermarkets anyway, so the math changes, pushing the threshold up. (For example, if you could always use a 5% card at a supermarket, e.g. Chase Amazon at Whole Foods, the BCP doesn't make sense, as the extra 1% on $6,000 doesn't outweight the $95 AF)

On the pro-BCP side: if you have streaming services, any money you put there lowers the breakeven. Also true for gas, but even the 3% on BCP is low for gas if it is a significant spend.

To answer the questions or statements...

We as a family spend on average $175 a week on Groceries at Meijer (Ohio)... We also have Netflix and Disney +

EDIT: Between wife and I we average 120$ in fuel a week.

I do have a Discover IT Card as well as a Chase Amazon Prime with the Amazon Prime we do not shop at Whole Foods

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:53:16 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@OmarR wrote:
Someone can jump in and correct me if my math is wrong, but if you spend at least ~$60 per week ($240/month) on groceries, than the BCP is the better card.
Math is correct. If you look purely at grocery spend, the cutover is where the extra 3% exceeds $95, so 95/.03, is about $3.166.67 a year, which is about $60.90 a week,

Cavaets in both directions!
1) This assumes spend at a grocery store which codes that way for Amex. Otherwise, both cards earn 1% and the AF is a waste.
2) This spend goes on the Amex card only. So if you have Discover IT and Freedom for example, some quarters you could get 5% supermarkets anyway, so the math changes, pushing the threshold up. (For example, if you could always use a 5% card at a supermarket, e.g. Chase Amazon at Whole Foods, the BCP doesn't make sense, as the extra 1% on $6,000 doesn't outweight the $95 AF)

On the pro-BCP side: if you have streaming services, any money you put there lowers the breakeven. Also true for gas, but even the 3% on BCP is low for gas if it is a significant spend.

To answer the questions or statements...

We as a family spend on average $175 a week on Groceries at Meijer (Ohio)... We also have Netflix and Disney +

I do have a Discover IT Card as well as a Chase Amazon Prime with the Amazon Prime we do not shop at Whole Foods

Sounds like the BCP is a worthwhile upgrade (especially if there is a SUB) Just keep track of the spend and when you reach $6K, if you have a card that does more than 1%, use that

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:53:29 GMT

@FinStar wrote:
Is there a SUB as part of the offer to upgrade?

I am not seeing a SUB offer with the upgrade...

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

JNA1 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 01:58:47 GMT

Your spend sounds a lot like ours. I got the BCP because I will max out the $6000 @ 6% on the BCP and the $1500 @ 5% on my Disco (and then some!🙈)
The AF was worth it, in our case. In fact, I eventually want one more 5% rotator to cover all of our grocery spend for the year.
The 3% for gas (and pretty much all other gas station purchases also) is unspectacular , but it’s the best of my current cards, and based on our spend this year, we‘ll net an additional $50 next year in gas cash back next year over the 2% I got this year.

So far I’m loving ours!

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

JNA1 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 02:00:08 GMT

I got the $300 for spending $1000 on ours, so it was a no brainer for us.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

bergrides — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 02:04:24 GMT

I spend about 7500 on groceries a year, so it is a good match for me. Also my EZPass is on my BCP and that gets 3% back, and depending on work, I canspend alot on EZPass.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

dlister70 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 02:15:40 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

To answer the questions or statements...

We as a family spend on average $175 a week on Groceries at Meijer (Ohio)... We also have Netflix and Disney +

EDIT: Between wife and I we average 120$ in fuel a week.

I do have a Discover IT Card as well as a Chase Amazon Prime with the Amazon Prime we do not shop at Whole Foods

If you're spending $175 a week on average, it's a no brainer. Definitely upgrade as you'll max out the $6,000 in around 34 weeks. During Discover's grocery quarter, use them instead and you'll get another 8 weeks of 5% before you max them out. That does leave you with 10 weeks out of the year where you're only earning 1%, so a backup card might be warrented, but the BCE also has the $6,000 limit, so you should definitely upgrade.

Gas won't even enter into the equation with that kind of grocery spend. But if you're using $120 in gas per week, then I would definitely get one of the 5% gas cards to use whenever Discover doesn't have a gas quarter. Ducks Unlimited from FNBO, for example.

Also, Meijer counts as grocery regardless of what you buy. I got my Black Friday TV there one year and earned 6% when I still had the BCP. I downgraded mine to BCE because my grocery spend isn't as much as yours, but it's a great card to have with that kind of spend.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

wasCB14 — Fri, 06 Dec 2019 02:26:02 GMT

I'd hold out for a $250 upgrade bonus.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 04:25:12 GMT

I agree, hold out for SUB.

You can upgrade at anytime for nothing, so there's nothing special about this offer if you ask me. The $250-300 pays for 2.5 years worth of AF so you're already ahead, then spending $175 a week is just gravy on top! Plus of course the streaming bonus.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Yankee2 — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 14:19:45 GMT

I upgraded with the SUB last year. I put $1,200 or so a month on groceries and $200 on gas.

I have 2 Discover IT cards which gives me $3,000 spend at groceries a year and 3 months @ 5% on gas.

Also have a Chase Freedom which also gives me $1,500 groceries @ 5% and also 5% on gas for those quarters...

Works out well for me, like others said, it's a no brainer...

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Sat, 07 Dec 2019 15:18:36 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@FinStar wrote:
Is there a SUB as part of the offer to upgrade?
I am not seeing a SUB offer with the upgrade...

Suggest you try the pre-qual page in ingognito mode and then sign in. If you get an offer on the card there see if you can get approved that way.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

Anonymous — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 03:19:52 GMT

Yeah you can get $200-$300 SUB, wait and try incognito. Also screenshot it, as AmEx tried to cut one member to the $200 SUB saying it wasn't FOR them...Luckily they had screenshots and all was resolved.

Re: AMEX Blue Cash Every Upgrade to Blue Cash Preferred?

eastsea — Thu, 12 Dec 2019 04:19:37 GMT

@dlister70 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:

To answer the questions or statements...

We as a family spend on average $175 a week on Groceries at Meijer (Ohio)... We also have Netflix and Disney +

EDIT: Between wife and I we average 120$ in fuel a week.

I do have a Discover IT Card as well as a Chase Amazon Prime with the Amazon Prime we do not shop at Whole Foods
If you're spending $175 a week on average, it's a no brainer. Definitely upgrade as you'll max out the $6,000 in around 34 weeks. During Discover's grocery quarter, use them instead and you'll get another 8 weeks of 5% before you max them out. That does leave you with 10 weeks out of the year where you're only earning 1%, so a backup card might be warrented, but the BCE also has the $6,000 limit, so you should definitely upgrade.

Gas won't even enter into the equation with that kind of grocery spend. But if you're using $120 in gas per week, then I would definitely get one of the 5% gas cards to use whenever Discover doesn't have a gas quarter. Ducks Unlimited from FNBO, for example.

Also, Meijer counts as grocery regardless of what you buy. I got my Black Friday TV there one year and earned 6% when I still had the BCP. I downgraded mine to BCE because my grocery spend isn't as much as yours, but it's a great card to have with that kind of spend.

If there is a Chase Freedom it can help with another quarter as long as the Chase grocery quarter staggers with Discover's grocery quarter.

OP's spend is just about perfect for a Chase Freedom plus a Discover plus a BCP.